"Labor market conditions improved in the
latter part of 2011 and earlier this year. The unemployment rate has
fallen about 1 percentage point since last August; and payroll
employment increased 225,000 per month, on average, during the first
three months of this year, up from about 150,000 jobs added per month in
2011. In April and May, however, the reported pace of job gains slowed
to an average of 75,000 per month, and the unemployment rate ticked up
to 8.2 percent. This apparent slowing in the labor market may have been
exaggerated by issues related to seasonal adjustment and the unusually
warm weather this past winter. But it may also be the case that the
larger gains seen late last year and early this year were associated
with some catch-up in hiring on the part of employers who had pared
their workforces aggressively during and just after the recession. If
so, the deceleration in employment in recent months may indicate that
this catch-up has largely been completed, and, consequently, that
more-rapid gains in economic activity will be required to achieve
significant further improvement in labor market conditions." -- Ben
Bernanke

Did you get that? Never have so few,
said so much, to say so little. The cause of the slowdown in the economy
is warm winter weather. "Guys," the foreman says slowly, "I got some
bad news, the plant is shutting down."

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"But why," Jim asks?

"Well Jim," he answered wearily, "management thinks it's just too
warm to run the plant. Plants and retail outlets all over America are
shutting down because it's too gosh darn warm. Car washes, auto parts
stores struggling to make it in the warm winter weather. Traffic at the
nation's shopping malls is down and all I suppose, due to the warm
winter weather?"

Banking and financial conditions in the
United States have improved significantly since the depths of the
crisis. Notably, recent stress tests conducted by the Federal Reserve of
the balance sheets of the 19 largest U.S. bank holding companies showed
that those firms have added about $300 billion to their capital since
2009; the tests also showed that, even in an extremely adverse
hypothetical economic scenario, most of those firms would remain able to
provide credit to U.S. households and businesses. Lending terms and
standards have generally become less restrictive in recent quarters,
although some borrowers, such as small businesses and (as already noted)
potential homebuyers with less-than-perfect credit, still report
difficulties in obtaining loans. -- Ben Bernanke

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"Banking and financial conditions in the United States have improved
significantly since the depths of the crisis." Or, things have gotten
much better since we put the fire out. It has almost a Stan Laurel
quality to it. Though this is my favorite line, "even in an extremely
adverse hypothetical economic scenario," I'll bet he was up half the
night coming up with that line. Tell the truth, does it sound like
something the captain of the Fukushima power station would say? And the
answer is, "most". Most of those firms would still be able to supply
credit but since they're not supplying credit now, they won't be
supplying credit in the near future.

I who am I? Born at the pinnacle of American prosperity to parents raised during the last great depression. I was the youngest child of the youngest children born almost between the generations and that in fact clouds and obscures who it is that I (more...)